Won again leads Asian currencies in weekly gains

Bloomberg

Europe’s 17-nation currency dropped versus most major peers as data showed services and manufacturing in the euro region this month contracted more than economists predicted. The US unemployment rate rose last month, a US Department of Labor report next week may show.

“The data was not terribly supportive of the euro this week,” Charles St-Arnaud, a New York-based economist and foreign-exchange strategist at Nomura Holdings Inc, said on Friday in a telephone interview.

The euro dropped 0.7 percent to US$1.2938 this week in New York, trimming its gain for this month to 0.6 percent, which would be the least since March. The single currency weakened 0.2 percent to ￥103.05, paring a monthly gain to 2.8 percent. Japan’s currency fell 0.4 percent to ￥79.65 per US dollar, losing for two consecutive weeks for the first time since March.

The Dollar Index, which measures the currency against the euro, yen, pound, Swiss franc, Canadian dollar and Swedish krona, increased 0.5 percent to 80 and touched 80.27, the highest level since Sept. 11.